Smith was taken by the Chicago Cubs in the 40th round of the 1987 amateur draft and the 39th round of the 1988 amateur draft. He spent 1988 as a two-way player for the Geneva Cubs, hitting .193/.272/.215 and fielding .910 as their primary shortstop. He pitched 15 games, going 0-4 with a 6.20 ERA while striking out 21 in 20 2/3 IP. He batted .179/~.230/.253 in 86 games for the 1989 Peoria Chiefs; his 6 triples tied Ty Griffin for second on the team behind Alex Arias. Smith split third base with another Smith, Woody Smith. He allowed one run in two innings on the hill. In 1990, he hit .243/.296/.313 in 68 games for the Winston-Salem Spirits and stole 7 bases in 9 tries. He was used at all four infield positions and also tossed five shutout innings of one-hit ball. Despite it being his best season yet, the Cubs let Smith go.

Smith was head coach at Miami University from 1997-2005. He took over a team that had gone 12-40 prior to his arrival and guided them to a 317-220-1 record in his time at the helm. He became head coach at Indiana University after that. He was 104-126 in his first four seasons with Indiana. He led them to the Big Ten Conference title in 2009, their first conference title since 1996. He helped develop Eric Arnett, the first player taken in the first round of the draft from Indiana since 1966.